Committee on the Rights of the Child

List of issues in relation to the sixth periodic report of Jordan *

1.The State party is requested to submit in writing additional, updated information (10,700 words maximum), if possible before 15 February 2023. The Committee may take up all aspects of children’s rights set out in the Convention during the dialogue with the State party.

Part I

2.Please explain the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Expedite the full implementation of the Children’s Rights Law;

(b)Ensure that the National Council for Family Affairs has the mandate and authority to ensure the effective coordination of all activities related to the implementation of the Convention across all sectors;

(c)Develop a strategy for implementing the budget model and findings of the study on budget allocations for children;

(d)Ensure that children, civil society organizations and children human rights defenders can exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly;

(e)Ensure that the business sector, including the tourism, agricultural and informal sectors, complies with international standards in the areas of children’s rights, health, labour and the environment.

3.Please describe the measures to:

(a)Implement the Committee’s previous recommendation to abolish the discriminatory classifications of children as “illegitimate” or “victims of lascivious conduct”;

(b)Adopt a comprehensive strategy to eliminate discrimination against all groups of children in marginalized or disadvantaged situations, including asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, children of Palestinian origin, children without regular residence status, children of unmarried parents, children with disabilities, children in alternative care and children in socioeconomically disadvantaged situations;

(c)Repeal all legislation that is discriminatory against girls, address the root causes of discrimination against girls and develop awareness-raising campaigns to address the deeply entrenched social and gender norms and behaviours that are the root causes of such discrimination.

4.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Enforce the decree issued in 2013 to not withdraw the nationality of Palestinian refugee families residing in Jordan, and to enable refugee children to secure legal status;

(b)Ensure that all children, including children born to unmarried parents, non-Jordanian fathers and Jordanian women of Palestinian origin, have equal access to nationality and identification cards.

5.Please explain the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Repeal legal provisions, including article 62 of the Criminal Code, that allow for parents to discipline their children if “permissible under general customs”;

(b)Adopt a full ban on violence against children in all settings and conduct awareness-raising programmes aimed at promoting non-violent and participatory forms of child-rearing;

(c)Combat the stigmatization of children who are victims of sexual exploitation and abuse, ensure that such cases are addressed in a confidential and child-friendly manner and guarantee that victims have access to support and effective remedies;

(d)Prevent the secondary victimization of children who are victims of violence and ensure that they do not face consequences for any change in their statements under article 214 of the Criminal Code.

6.Please provide an update to the Committee on the approval and adoption of the template and national plan of action on combating child marriage.

7.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Promote equal parenting and the sharing of common parental responsibilities between both parents, regardless of marital status, under law and in practice;

(b)Invest in and strengthen the foster care system for children who cannot stay with their parents;

(c)Prevent the separation of children from their family, including single mothers, in particular at birth, on the basis of poverty, disability, the marital status of the mother, the incarceration of parents and a lack of identification documents;

(d)Provide training to social welfare and child protection professionals on applying the right of the child to have his or her best interests taken as a primary consideration in decisions related to the placement of children in alternative care.

8.Please provide information on the following:

(a)The mechanism in place for ensuring the effective implementation of the national strategy for persons with disabilities and its related action plan and for ensuring the coordination of all related activities;

(b)The implementation of regulation No. 10 of 2018 on early intervention, and the system in place for ensuring the early detection, intervention and the referral of children with disabilities to necessary support services, including specialized health-care services.

9.Please explain the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Eliminate the barriers faced by children in disadvantaged situations, including asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children and children of Palestinian origin, in accessing education and health-care services;

(b)Ensure that adolescents have access to mental health and family planning services and affordable contraceptives and that adolescent girls have access to safe abortions;

(c)Prevent the deportation of migrant children with HIV and ensure that all migrant children with HIV have access to antiretroviral therapy;

(d)Ensure that children’s special vulnerabilities and views are taken into account in developing policies and programmes concerning climate change and disaster risk management;

(e)Ensure the right of children in vulnerable situations, including children living in informal tented settlements and asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children, to an adequate standard of living, including with regard to health, sanitation, education and housing.

10.Please describe the measures taken or envisaged to:

(a)Increase budget allocations for education, in view of the large number of children who have moved from private to public schools in recent years;

(b)Ensure that Palestinian refugee children, children with disabilities and children without a regular residence status have access to inclusive public education free of charge;

(c)Expand the coverage of non-formal educational programmes for the large number of children who are out of school;

(d)Address gender stereotypes in education and enhance educational opportunities and achievement for both boys and girls, including pregnant teenagers and adolescent mothers, at all levels;

(e)Address corporal punishment, bullying and other forms of violence in schools, including through complaint mechanisms in schools for children to report such cases and capacity-building for teachers on preventing and responding to violence in schools;

(f)Ensure the right of children to rest and leisure and to engage in recreational activities, including through safe and accessible playground spaces.

11.Please provide information on the measures taken to:

(a)Ensure the registration of all non-Syrian asylum-seeking and refugee children and children of individuals seeking international protection;

(b)Ensure the protection of Palestinian children and their families who fled the Syrian Arab Republic and ensure the full respect for the fundamental principle of non-refoulement;

(c)Provide Palestinian children with durable solutions, including residence status and support for their social integration, and ensure that they are not subject to penalties and fines due to their residence status.

12.Please provide information on the following:

(a)The strategy for the elimination of child labour, 2020–2030, including the resources allocated for its implementation;

(b)The measures taken to strengthen the capacities of the child labour and anti-begging units of the Ministry of Social Development and to ensure that children in street situations receive support from social services.

13.Please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Endorse the amended Juvenile Law and ensure its effective implementation;

(b)Establish specialized courts or designate specialized judges and prosecutors for children and ensure that children accused of having infringed criminal law have access to free legal aid;

(c)Promote non-judicial measures such as diversion, mediation and specialized counselling.

14.With reference to the Committee’s concluding observations on the report submitted by the State party under the Optional Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, please explain the measures taken to:

(a)Explicitly define and criminalize all forms of the sale of children prohibited under the Optional Protocol;

(b)Ensure the effective investigation of the sale of girls for the purpose of forced marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, including in prostitution and in the tourism industry;

(c)Ensure that children who are victims of offences covered by the Optional Protocol are treated as victims, removed from detention facilities and receive child-friendly and specialized support services;

(d)Establish extraterritorial jurisdiction over all crimes covered by the Optional Protocol.

15.With reference to the Committee’s concluding observations on the report submitted by the State party under the Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, please describe the measures taken to:

(a)Designate a governmental entity responsible for the implementation of the Optional Protocol and establish an institutional mechanism for effective coordination among ministries, other government entities and partners;

(b)Explicitly prohibit and criminalize the recruitment of children under 18 years of age in the armed forces, by non-State armed groups and by security companies;

(c)Raise the minimum age of voluntary recruitment of public security officers to 18 years of age;

(d)Extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction for crimes concerning the recruitment and involvement of children in hostilities, without submitting it to the condition of double criminality.

Part II

16.The Committee invites the State party to provide a brief update, of no more than three pages, on the information in its report with regard to:

(a)New bills or laws and their respective regulations;

(b)New institutions and their mandates or institutional reforms;

(c)Recently introduced policies, programmes and action plans, their scope and the financing provided for their implementation;

(d)Recent ratifications of human rights instruments.

Part III

Data, statistics and other information

17.Please provide consolidated information for the past three years on the budget lines regarding children and the social sectors, indicating the percentage of each budget line in terms of the total national budget and the gross national product. Please also provide information on the geographical allocation of those resources.

18.Please provide updated statistical data, disaggregated by age, sex, ethnic origin, national origin, geographical location and socioeconomic status, for the past three years, on the following:

(a)Children of Palestinian origin whose nationality or the nationality of their parents have been revoked, appeals that have been made before the Supreme Administrative Court and the outcomes of those appeals;

(b)Cases of violence against children, including abuse, neglect, domestic violence and sexual exploitation and abuse and exploitation in forced prostitution, that have been reported to the authorities, investigated and prosecuted, and include information on the sanctions imposed on the perpetrators;

(c)Children with disabilities who are attending public school, who are out of school and who have reported having experienced violence;

(d)Cases of the exploitation of children in labour, including informal and domestic work;

(e)Investigations and prosecutions conducted for cases of the trafficking of children, and include information on the sentences handed down to perpetrators and the reparations afforded to victims;

(f)Asylum-seeking, refugee and migrant children entering the State party from areas where children may have been recruited or used in hostilities;

(g)Children under the jurisdiction of the State party who have been recruited or used in hostilities abroad.

19.Please provide information on how a children’s rights-based approach is integrated into the planning, implementation and monitoring of measures for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, including with regard to the participation of children and data collection, and on how those measures promote the realization of children’s rights under the Convention and the Optional Protocols thereto.

20.Please provide the Committee with an update of any data in the report that may have been outdated by more recent data collected or other new developments.

21.In addition, the State party may list areas affecting children that it considers to be of priority with regard to the implementation of the Convention.